"Certainly, " I told him. "In these mountains you can still find wild boars, muntjacs, and serows if you know where to look, but the numbers are dwindling drastically. "
"Oh, you mean wild game, don't you? " the driver immediately replied. "I've eaten wild game. There're lots places in Taipei selling such 'mountain products.'"
The conversation brought no joy to this researcher, but it is representative of the situation throughout the island: insufficient public awareness of Taiwan's endangered animal population, and the difficulties conservationists face in trying to educate a population with deeply entrenched hunting and eating habits.
Because the majority of the island's residents are now urbanites, they are surprised to learn that there are in fact considerable wildlife resources remaining in Taiwan, despite its small size and large population. While primary and secondary school students can readily identify the elephants, zebras, and antelopes of Africa, they usually know much less about local animals.
At least 62 species of mammals are distributed over the 13,900 square miles of Taiwan. For its size, the island has the most varied species of animals in the world; no accurate assessments yet exist on their total numbers. Naturalists have thus far identified at least 430 species of migratory and domestic birds on the island, 90 different reptiles, 30 amphibians, and 140 varieties of fresh water fish.
Experts estimate Taiwan has approximately 40,000 to 50,000 species of insects, of which the most famous are the island's butterflies, numbering more than 400 species. Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and Carnegie Museum estimate that there are at least 10,000 moth species as well. It is small wonder that at least in some circles the island is considered a "paradise for naturalists. "
But wildlife in Taiwan, as elsewhere in the world, face unprecedented threats to their existence. The sika deer (Cervusnippon taiouanus) provide a good illustration. A Dutch chronicler in Anping, near Tainan, wrote in 1623 that he and his companions saw "droves of deer leaping before us, and also wild boars. We don't think many other countries are comparable."
It has been estimated that about 20,000 sika deer were killed each year during the earlier days of the Dutch occupation of Anping. But records indicate that the number of hides collected in 1639 approached 100,000. The Dutch traders optimistically thought that the supply of deer would not decrease, despite such bountiful harvests. By the following year, Taiwan had become the largest supplier of deer hides to the Japanese market. Tragically, the once abundant sika deer completely disappeared from the wild by the 1960s, and are now found only in deer-breeding parks and zoos.
The vicissitudes of sika deer unfortunately do not present an exceptional case. Taiwan's once numerous clouded leopards, leopard cats, otters, and sambar deer are now rarely found. Even the once extensive populations of Formosan macaques and pangolins have now become rare animals, some on the brink of extinction. The steady pressure on the survival of Taiwan's wildlife is an index of the changes taking place in the quality of the natural environment. If measures are not taken in the near future to prevent further deterioration, these and other animals are destined to follow the path of sika deer.
Two major factors lead to the reduction and even the extinction of wildlife: destruction of their habitat and heavy hunting pressure. With the expansion of the island's population from 8 million in 1952 to nearly 20 million today, land formerly left wild and uncultivated is now being opened up for farming, orchards, factories, or urban development. People are displacing wildlife.
Even marginal lands, including the steep slopes of mountains in higher elevations, are being transformed into orchards and other forms of cultivation. Despite restrictions against such practices, the abuse is widespread. Along the East-West Cross-Island Highway, for example, which was built through a wilderness area, there is now extensive orchard development on the adjacent slopes. This has already removed the natural cover and food sources needed by many species of animals. In the longer term, these orchards are fouling the environment by pesticide use, and are causing erosion and leaching of the soil.
The lower elevations of Taiwan's less remote mountains no longer provide animal habitats, so many species of wildlife have been forced to move to more isolated areas and to higher elevations, which often present them with greater hardships and increased risk to their survival. Some cannot endure the colder weather, some find insufficient food and shelter, and others cannot find mates to propagate because their original habitats have been divided by highway networks. Many species face dim prospects indeed for survival.
Increased hunting is an equally serious problem. Chinese are traditionally enthusiastic about eating a rich variety of food. Wild game is particularly attractive. In the minds of many people, wild fowl are tastier and have more nutrients than domestic chickens, and the flavor of domestic rabbits, hogs, and goats cannot be compared with the special taste of wild hares, boars, and serows. Eating so-called mountain products, or wild animals, is therefore an eagerly sought alternative at mealtime.
Hunting has for centuries been part of the culture of Taiwan's mountain aborigines, and wild game has been an essential part of their diet as well as serving various other social and cultural needs. Today, the aborigines and the larger Chinese populace from the plains areas hunt for different reasons: they supply the seemingly insatiable appetites of urban consumers for wild game. Short-term profits and eating pleasures are driving many species of wildlife to extinction.
Only in the past 10 years did people begin to pay much attention to the problems of wildlife conservation in Taiwan, due in part to the upgrading of general education throughout the island. The process was greatly assisted in 1982 when then President Chiang Ching-kuo promulgated the Cultural Assets Preservation Act, which included the category of wildlife under natural and cultural landscapes. The Council of Agriculture, which reports to the Executive Yuan, was given the responsibility for the investigation, research, conservation, and protection of wildlife. Since 1985, the Council has established nine nature preserves.
The Tawu Mountain Nature Preserve in southern Taiwan is the largest of these. An animal survey in the area revealed that of Taiwan's 16 mammals of medium and large size, 14 live in the area. These include sambar deer, pangolins, and Formosan black bear. Tawu Mountain is also one of the two spots in the island where clouded leopards still exist in the wild.
To augment the Cultural Assets Preservation Act, local conservationists and scholars helped draft the "Wildlife Conservation Act," which was later introduced in the Legislative Yuan for discussion. The Act passed first reading in 1986, but action stopped at that point. To date it has not been submitted for the second and final readings. Apparently, the pressure of other business in the areas of politics, economics, and social change has relegated conservation issues to a less important position in legislative deliberations.
The proposed Act is not altogether popular for other reasons. For example, if it were law, it would require that all wild game shops in the island be closed in order to terminate illegal hunting activities. This would alter the public's eating patterns. Until the law has more punch, the public will find it easy to purchase wild game for their eating enjoyment-at least until the species become extinct.
Some progress has been made in curbing heavy hunting practices. The establishment of national parks has been one of the more significant decisions taken in this area by the Central Government. Since 1982, the Ministry of the Interior has set up four parks, in Yushan, Yangmingshan, Kenting, and Taroko. In each park, extensive areas have been designated as nature preserves; the current total is over 410,000 acres, or 4.6 percent of the island's total area if the Tawu Mountain Nature Preserve is included. The exploitation of natural resources is strictly prohibited in these areas, and human disturbance of the areas is minimized in order to encourage optimal wildlife protection.
Last year the Taiwan Provincial Government promulgated a Five-Year Plan on Conservation and Protection of Wildlife and Natural Scenery, and budgeted roughly US$5.5 million for the protection and preservation of coasts, rivers, forests, wildlife, and geological landscapes. One of the most valuable parts of this plan lies in its emphasis on grassroots education projects to familiarize the island's populace with basic concepts of nature conservation. If people are to move from eating birds to caring for them, this education is essential. The schools are a good place to begin introducing the concepts of ecology and resource conservation.
At higher levels of education there are several key research projects underway on wildlife, including subjects such as landlocked salmon [see box], Formosan sika, serow, rock-monkey, and the Orchid Island horned owl. Despite the importance of such studies, there are very few researchers active in the field—in fact, less than 20.
Because of the growing challenges to Taiwan's natural environment and wildlife, many experts have suggested that the government set up a special research institution to oversee conservation affairs, and that related departments be set up in universities to help train professional researchers and field workers. At present, there is not much optimism that this will occur in the near future.
But there are bright spots in the conservation scene, including the rise of civic organizations advocating wildlife protection and nature conservation. Examples are the Society of Wildlife and Nature (SWAN), the ROC Wild Bird Society, and several river fish conservation groups in places like Ilan County and Tungshih Town. These organizations have amplified the individual voices in Taiwan calling for an end to bird-snaring, illegal fishing methods, extensive hunting, and various forms of natural habitat destruction. These are healthy signs of a growing public awareness of the need for greater conservation of Taiwan's natural resources. This public sensitivity is well in line with traditional altitudes toward the environment.
Over two millennia ago, the philosopher Mencius said: "If fine-meshed nets are not allowed in pools and ponds, there will be more fish and turtles than people can eat; if hatchets and axes are permitted in the forests and on the hillsides only in the proper seasons, there will be more timber than people can use. When people have more grain, fish, and turtles than they can eat and more timber than they can use, they will have the wherewithal to support their parents when alive and to bury them when dead."
These sagely remarks still match modern conservation methods that permit continued use of natural resources. But economic development in modern societies takes a heavy toll on nature. Whether the people who wrought an economic "miracle" on Taiwan will be as effective in ensuring an environmental miracle remains to be seen. —(Dr. Chao Jung-tai is an associate research scientist at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute.)
Last Minute Reprieve
The Formosan landlocked salmon (Oncorhynchus masou formosanus) is a relic of the glacial age. Discovered in the Chichiawan Stream by a Japanese researcher in 1917, it was immediately recognized as one of the world's rarest species.
Over the ensuing decades, Chinese, Japanese, and American experts have traveled to Wuling Farm, located at the upper reaches of the Tachia River in central Taiwan, to conduct research on the salmon's habitat and reproduction. In the 1930s, the fish could be found in abundance in the six upper streams of the Tachia River—the Hohuan, Nanhu, Ssuchiehlan, Hsuehshan, Yousheng, and the Chichiawan. At the time a person could catch 15 catties [1 catty = 1.3 pounds] of the salmon in one night.
In 1938, while Taiwan was under Japanese occupation, the colonial government ordered strict protection of the species. But the fish has faced serious threats to survival in recent decades, especially since the completion of the East-West Cross-Island Highway and the extensive use of nearby slopelands for orchards and vegetable farms. These have caused serious erosion and stream eutrophication. Coupled with associated abuse of pesticides in the cultivated areas, many of the stream ecosystems have been ruined for the fish.
In the half century since the Formosan landlocked salmon was designated as a precious species for protection by the colonial Japanese government, 90 per cent of the salmon population has been destroyed. Today, the salmon only survive in the Chichiawan Stream.
The government's first effort to ensure continuation of the species was made in 1974, but it came to nothing. In the next decade little action was taken either on general conservation measures in the area or on specific action to protect the salmon's natural environment. It was not until 1984, when the Cultural Assets Preservation Act was passed, that the fish was designated an official cultural asset of Taiwan.
Finally, the government took determined steps to prevent the salmon population from being totally destroyed. The Council of Agriculture made substantial efforts to propagate the species. From 1984 to 1988, US$2 million was spent on various protection and reproduction projects, including the construction of a salmon hatchery in October 1984 on the Wuling Farm. In March 1988, 250 tagged fish were released in three sites, two in the middle and upper parts of the Chichiawan Stream and one in the Hsuehshan Stream, in an attempt to reintroduce the salmon to its original habitat.
But the future of the fish, now numbering less than 2,000, is still not bright, especially with the continued opening up of orchards and vegetable farms in the area, the large increase of tourists to the Wuling scenic spot, and the small number of fishery biologists who are interested in freshwater fish research and management. There still is a strong possibility that the rare Formosan landlocked salmon may join the long list of species now labeled "extinct."